


Psycho Sheldon

by Marathon_Zack_140_6



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 04:55:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13450998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marathon_Zack_140_6/pseuds/Marathon_Zack_140_6
Summary: AU & OOC Psychopath Sheldon. Just Sheldon & Penny. Not Shenny or anything else for Chapters 1 & 2, becomes Shenny for Ch 3 & 4. Rated M, but no language, sex, or graphic violence actually described. No longer a ONE-SHOT where Sheldon's an actual psychopath and Sheldon and Penny are roommates.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Definite shades of Dexter, or at least what I know about Dexter since I only ever watched a couple of episodes. And no sane human would actually react like Penny does; give it a break, it's a fanfic, not a based-on-true-events story.
> 
> It's certainly not something I'd normally write, but I've got writer's block on all my other stories and one-shots, and I wanted to get something out, and for some reason this popped into my head.

Penny had just broken up with her boyfriend of four years, and was looking for a new apartment. So when she saw an ad in the newspaper looking for a roommate, being as strapped for cash as she was, she decided to check it out. He was an OCD, neat-freak, germaphobe, but he had a nice apartment, her half of the rent would be really cheap, he wasn't constantly ogling her like every other guy in California (in fact, he'd barely looked at her at all), and he seemed kind of nice in his own, weird, quiet, egoistical way.

So she decided to give it a try.

While not exactly her normal preference for a roommate, he wasn't bad. He mostly left her alone, other than occasional glares when she left stuff laying around or tried watching crappy reality tv, and long-winded scientific speeches she could care less about. But overall, he was a pleasant enough, if a bit eccentric, roommate.

* * *

One evening, a few months in, she came home from her job at the Cheesecake Factory a couple hours early. She had been scheduled to work a double shift, but midway through her second shift the boss's best friend's daughter had called demanding the evening hours. So when she got there, Penny had been sent home.

Irritated to no end at being cheated out of the most profitable time of the day, she'd stopped by the store to grab a bottle of wine before heading home.

Tired from having worked over a shift and a half, and irritated at her boss (and pathetic life in general), she opened the bottle as she started up the stairs of their apartment building, downing far too much of it far too quickly; but at that point, she really didn't care.

When she opened the door, it took her a few seconds to comprehend what she was looking at. The entire living room was covered in blood, and her roommate was calmly standing over a dead body.

As she stood there in literal disbelief, Sheldon calmly walked around behind her, shutting the door still open behind her, before walking back to the body. After a few seconds, Penny, sure that she must be drunk and hallucinating, stumbled back to her room, collapsing on her bed, out like a light before she even had time to process what she thought she'd seen.

The next morning, she woke up with a slight headache. Rolling over, and seeing that she was still in her work clothes, she slowly remembered what she thought she'd seen the night before. But with the sun shining through her window, and the feelings of a slight hangover bouncing around her head, she felt that it had to have just been an exhaustion and alcohol induced nightmare.

She changed clothes, and then carefully creeping out of her room, she peered into the living room:

Spotless as ever.

Sheldon sat on the couch, eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs, watching Tom & Jerry. Everything in its meticulous place, not a single thing out of the ordinary.

Penny sighed to herself, convinced it had just been a really bad dream.

* * *

The next few weeks passed the same as they always had. Sheldon was still an annoying egomaniac, Penny still pushed his buttons when she wasn't too tired from her job, and everything remained the same.

One night after a particularly tiring day, Penny woke up in the middle of the night, hangover starting to form. While she didn't pay much attention to her roommates scientific mumbo-jumbo, one thing she had learned from him was that a nice cup of tea did seem to lessen the affects of her (far too frequent) hangovers.

So she got up, and headed to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. As she rounded the corner and looked into the living room, she saw Sheldon, facing away from her, once again standing over a dead body, living room covered in blood.

Praying that she was just dreaming, as quietly as possible she turned around went back to her room. She'd just had too much to drink last night, she was just dreaming, she tried convincing herself. But in the back of her mind, she knew if she really was dreaming she wouldn't think to convince herself that she was dreaming. Although the fact she hadn't screamed her head off either time did seem to indicate that it couldn't have been real…

She woke up to the sun streaming into her face, unaware that she'd ever fallen asleep. The events of last night flooded into her mind; this time, she was having a really hard time convincing herself it was just a dream.

Walking into the kitchen, she found the living room as spotless as ever, and Sheldon sitting at the island eating his cereal.

"Decide you didn't want any tea after all?" he asked her as she walked in.

Well, that certainly confirmed she had been awake last night. Deciding to push a little further, she replied, "Um, yeah. Stomach got a little upset when got in here."

"That's understandable."

While not exactly confirming that she had seen what she had seen, it confirmed she had seen what she had seen.

Slightly panicking now, she decided to test out some different waters;

"So, uh, I really like being roommates with you, but I've been thinking, and perhaps it's time I moved out and moved on with my life. This whole California thing isn't really working out."

"Don't worry, I would never hurt you," he replied, never looking up from the newspaper he had started reading.

So her attempt at discreetness hadn't fooled him one bit. She decided to risk being more direct.

"Um, it's not really that. Well, I mean, it's not _just_ that, because it definitely is that, but it's more than just that."

"But it has nothing to do with 'California not working out'." He said it as a statement, not a question.

"Well, yeah."

"You're of course free to move out if you'd like, but I would never hurt you."

Starting to get angry at his seeming complete indifference, her voice started rising.

"It's not about you hurting me, it's the fact your still—"

She paused. She didn't actually know exactly what he was doing. It was bad, obviously, but she still didn't know exactly what it was.

He could obviously tell what she was thinking, because after a few seconds he answered her unasked questions; "I'm a psychopath who kills rapists who slide through the justice system. As a physicist, I can do so without ever getting caught." Except by my roommate, as it turns out," he mumbled in an undertone.

When she started to speak, he cut her off; "And before you think about going to the police, they will never find any evidence, and it would just be the word of a waitress who drinks too much vs the word of a prominent theoretical physicist with a Nobel prize, who, while being antisocial and a narcissistic egomaniac, has never shown any violent tendencies."

"Oh." was all Penny could choke out.

Her mind was strangely numb and blank. She knew she should be screaming in terror, or at the very least terrified, but her brain just wasn't functioning.

She knew she should go to the police. That was obviously the right thing to do, even though she was sure he was right about them never finding any evidence; he was the world's biggest neat freak, after all. But at the same time, she was having a hard time feeling bad about what he was doing.

As an attempting actress, she had been attacked and assaulted by directors and others in the film business. Nothing really bad had ever happened to her, she was lucky, but she knew how pathetic the justice system was out here; the police had never given the slightest interest or credence to any of her numerous reports.

And while she had no idea if he'd gone through something to cause him to snap, or if he was just a psychopath trying to use it for good, she certainly couldn't feel bad for his victims. Some people really shouldn't be allowed out in the world, and far too much time at auditions taught her that the California justice system certainly wasn't doing it's job of keeping them off the streets.

But she wasn't sure if she could still be roommates with him knowing this side of him existed. She didn't know if she could, or should, stay. She didn't know if she was staying or not.

Her roommate had finally looked up at her while she stood there looking at him, these thoughts going through her head. After a few seconds, he looked away again, a small smile playing at his lips, and taking his cereal bowl around to the sink, answered the question her mind couldn't quite bring itself to answer; "It's pizza and Mario Cart night. Don't be late."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a clue if hot tea really would help with a hangover, but it fits in nicely as something Sheldon would suggest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The events from Sheldon's POV.

Sheldon was looking for a new roommate; his roommate of the last four years had just moved out of the state. Sheldon wasn't exactly sure why he was looking for a roommate. When he'd first moved in four years ago, he couldn't afford the rent on the place by himself; but since then, he'd gotten tenure at the college he worked at, won a Nobel Prize, and no longer needed a roommate to help pay the rent. He also didn't like people, and generally tried to avoid them whenever possible. And yet, he found himself submitting an ad to the paper looking for a roommate.

He had already had two guys come by and take a look, but both of them had left quickly once they had found out about his extensive list of rules. The third person to come look was a blonde.

He'd had no intentions of being roommates with a female, but realized that he'd forgot to mention that in the ad. But there was something odd about this woman, so instead of just telling her that he was only looking for a male roommate, that he'd just forgotten to put that in the article, he showed her around.

As he showed her around, he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he was doing so. She was the complete polar opposite of him in every way; unintelligent, messy, outgoing, and not interested in any of the things he was. And yet, he strangely wasn't completely opposed to the idea of having her as his roommate. He couldn't understand it; she should have completely revolted him, and yet here he was considering letting her be his roommate. And not just that, but at a much lower price than he would normally have asked for, since he could tell that she didn't have much money to spare.

The breaking point came when he showed her his list of rules. He expected it to send her running, since she lived in a constant state of chaos, and the strictness of his rules rivaled those of the LHC at CERN itself. What he didn't expect was for her to accept it without exception. A few quirked eyebrows, certainly, but no outright refusals. He also didn't expect, that despite the fact he could tell she had no intentions of actually following his rules, he didn't really seem to be bothered by the idea of that.

So he had offered her a lease, and she'd accepted it.

* * *

She wasn't supposed to be home this early. She was scheduled to work for another couple hours, and yet those were definitely her footsteps coming up the stairs. He froze. This was not going to go well.

She opened the door, and looked at him, and the scene around him. He waited for her panic, her scream, her attempt to dash out the door. He really had no clue what he would do if she did that. In the four years of having a roommate, he'd never been caught before.

But she didn't do any of those things. She just stood there.

Sheldon carefully edged around her, hoping not to set her off, but needing to close the door in case the neighbors upstairs decided to walk by. He walked back over to the body he'd been in the process of dismantling, and stood there, watching her carefully.

She eventually just stumbled back to her bedroom. As she passed him, he saw the half-empty bottle in her hand, and could smell the strong stench of liquor on her breath; he hoped she hadn't been driving like that. When she closed her bedroom door behind her, he breathed a sigh of relief. He knew there would be questions in the morning, but for right now he was safe.

He quickly and quietly finished his work, before returning the living room to it's immaculate condition. He would deal with her reaction in the morning, but if she did decide to call the police, there would be nothing to be found.

* * *

Sheldon was on the couch watching cartoons and eating breakfast when she finally woke up, and walked in. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her survey the room. She finally relaxed, and moved into the kitchen to make breakfast.

He internally sighed with relief, and returned his focus to the tv. She had been nearly drunk when she came in unexpected last night, perhaps she thought it was all just some really bad dream. He would have to be more careful in the future, though; it wouldn't do for his roommate to find out what he did. He really didn't want to have to go through the hassle of finding another roommate.

* * *

It was a few weeks later before it happened again. This time, he'd decided to do his tasks while she was asleep, since she never woke up in the middle of the night. He knew better than to risk it, he really did, but she had been hanging around the apartment a lot more lately, and he was having trouble finding times when she would be out for long enough.

As soon as she rounded the corner of the hallway, he could feel her eyes on his back. He could also smell the faintest traces of alcohol on her breath, and figured she was finally paying attention to some of the wealth of scientific advice he so graciously passed on to her on a regular basis, and was coming in to get a cup of hot tea to reduce the impending hangover. She really needed to stop drinking so much.

He could hear her freeze, turn around, and sneak back to her bedroom as quietly as possible. He was going to have to talk to her in the morning, even if she didn't bring it up first. She was a nice girl, even if she did drink and party too much, and he didn't want to see her any more psychologically scarred than she was already guaranteed to be.

* * *

When he heard her walk in, he decided to take the initiative, and casually asked, "Decide you didn't want any tea after all?"

He could feel her tense up without ever needing to look at her.

"Um, yeah. Stomach got a little upset when I got in here."

Was she trying to pry more information out of him, or was she trying to pretend like it never happened? He could barely understand her at the best of times, when she was being straightforward and blunt; he certainly couldn't read her now.

"That's understandable."

That had to be a sufficiently vague answer, didn't it? She could take the conversation wherever she liked from there.

It was a few seconds before she said anything else.

"So, uh, I really like being roommates with you, but I've been thinking, and perhaps it's time I moved out and moved on with my life. This whole California thing isn't really working out."

So now she was starting to panic. She'd finally accepted what she'd seen, and was trying to find a way to escape without alerting him.

"Don't worry, I would never hurt you."

He wasn't sure why he said it. Why he didn't just tell her she was free to go, he had no intentions of trying to keep her here because she knew his secret. But she was talking again before he really had time to think about it.

"Um, it's not really that. Well, I mean, it's not just that, because it definitely is that, but it's more than just that."

He finally looked up, and looked her directly in the eye. "But it has nothing to do with 'California not working out'." He knew it to be a fact, he just wanted her to admit it to herself.

"Well, yeah."

He looked back down at the newspaper he'd laid on the island. "You're of course free to move out if you'd like, but I would never hurt you."

"It's not about you hurting me, it's the fact you're still—"

He could tell she was starting to get angry. Her voice rose, and then died as she didn't know what to say. That was certainly a reasonable response. He wasn't proud of what he did, and he knew it was certainly wrong, but he couldn't stop himself. So he just used it in the best way he knew how.

As the silence lingered on for a few awkward seconds, he decided to come straight out and lay everything on the line. That way, she'd at least know what she was dealing with.

"I'm a psychopath who kills rapists who slide through the justice system. As a physicist, I can do so without ever getting caught." Except by my roommate, as it turns out," he added in a mumbled undertone. She started to say something, but he cut her off; he knew what was bound to be going through her mind.

"And before you think about going to the police, they will never find any evidence, and it would just be the word of a waitress who drinks too much versus the word of a prominent theoretical physicist with a Nobel Prize, who, while being antisocial and a narcissistic egomaniac, has never shown any violent tendencies."

She choked out a stunned "Oh."

He watched her carefully, seeing the wheels spinning in her brain. As she struggled with what she knew she should to, to beginning to have an understanding of why he did what he did. As he watched her think, he wondered if she'd been personally affected by the types of crimes he was attempting to punish, and prevent. Then he saw her thoughts return to the topic of whether she would, or even could, stay.

He could see the resignation the instant it settled on her face and in her eyes, even though her brain hadn't accepted it yet. A small smile playing on his lips, he grabbed his cereal bowl and started around to the sink, and gave her the answer she couldn't say herself; "It's pizza and Mario Kart night. Don't be late."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Beta'd by the wonderful Darkly Dreaming. If you haven't already, go read her stories, they're really good (fan fiction . net)

Penny set their plates down on the coffee table, and then sat down in her spot.

She wasn't entirely sure why 'her spot' was the spot right next to 'his spot' when it was a three person couch, and there were two other comfortable chairs in the living room, but that had become her spot, and she always sat there.

"So, how's work been?" she asked, as she picked up her plate and took a bite.

"I believe I am close to making a breakthrough on one of the more complex strings," he began, before Penny cut him off.

"No, your other job."

He turned and looked at her.

"You want to know about my other job?" he asked with a mix of disbelief and confusion. "I thought you didn't like my other job; that you only stayed because you recognize that it is a necessary evil, you're still slightly scared of me, and the rent is really cheap. But mostly because of the rent." There was a small smirk playing on the corner of his mouth at this last part.

Rolling her eyes, she replied, " _Whyever_ I'm staying, I'm here. So I might as well get to know my roommate a little better."

"Very well then. What would you like to know? And what would you _not_ like to know?"

"Um…Let's start with why. Not why the people you pick, that I can understand, but why do you do it at all."

"As I stated before, I'm a psychopath. Killing is literally something I cannot stop myself from doing. Almost like an addiction, only it actually is impossible for me to stop. It's a compulsion."

"Is there a specific reason you pick the people you do, or is it just because they're bad?"

"That I would rather not discuss," he mumbled, looking down at his hands.

Penny could tell there had obviously been something in his past, but she was smart enough to know better than to press him at the moment; even if he wasn't a psychopath.

"So how many since I discovered you…you know, do what you do. But no identities, and certainly not how."

"In the three weeks since you found out; two," he replied.

"Here?"

"Yes."

Penny looked down at her food. Her stomach was starting to protest slightly. "Um, I think that's enough for tonight. Why don't we switch this to a more dinner friendly topic of conversation for a while."

"All right, what would you like to talk about?"

Penny thought for a second. "Mind hearing about my day? I could stand to vent on a few things." Sheldon opened his mouth, but before he could reply, Penny added, "But you have to promise me you won't kill anyone I vent about."

Sheldon thought about arguing, but upon seeing the glare his fairer roommate was giving him, he simply nodded his head and said, "I promise."

So Penny spent the rest of supper venting about her bosses, a few of her coworkers, and a large number of her customers, and then they spent the rest of the evening in comfortable silence, watching Silence of the Lambs.

* * *

The following morning, when Penny walked into the living room, Sheldon was standing in the kitchen. Whatever he was cooking smelled absolutely delicious, so Penny's stomach took the opportunity to growl loudly.

With his back still turned to her, he said, "There's plenty for you as well. Your coffee is on the table."

She wandered over to her spot and sat down, taking the cup into her hands. A few minutes later he sat a plate down in front of her. As he sat down next to her in his spot, he reached for the tv remote and asked, "Do you intentionally wear the skimpiest clothes you own in an attempt to seduce me?"

She looked down at her sleep clothes, as he flicked on Netflix. It certainly wasn't the most revealing thing she owned; in fact, it was pretty tame compared to what she used to wear. When she'd moved in with her at-the-time unknown roommate, she'd intentionally slept in something more conservative, and always fully dressed before she came out of her room. Even since she'd got to know him, and became comfortable enough to wear her sleep clothes in the common areas, she'd never had the desire wear anything flirty. She knew he wouldn't react, anyway, even if she did.

"This is no more revealing than half the tank tops I wear all the time. And believe me, this is on the more conservative side of what I own," she finally replied.

"Those camisoles need to be addressed as well," he grumbled, "but you still haven't answered my question about whether you wear them in an attempt to seduce me."

It was kind of adorable that he thought she was trying to seduce him with something that she considered so conservative, but that brought up thoughts that she really didn't want to think about, so she immediately pushed it out of her mind.

"What are we watching this morning?" she asked, directing the subject off of her clothing, hoping he would forget about it.

"Phineas and Ferb," he replied, hitting the play button.

He might be the smartest man in the world, have a Nobel Prize hidden somewhere in his room, and be a psychopathic murderer, but he had a thing for adorable kids shows, and it always made her smile.

They sat in comfortable silence watching the antics on the screen, and eating breakfast. As he picked up their plates later on, and moved to the kitchen to clean them, Penny piped up, "We should go do something fun today."

"Very well," he replied in a voice of complete indifference, not looking up from where he was washing their dishes. "So long as you put on some respectable clothing. I can't be seen out in public with you wearing some of the things you pass off as clothes."

So much for him forgetting about her clothes.

Penny walked into her room, and looked at her wardrobe. She decided to play a little prank on her neurotic roommate before she got dressed for real. True, that might not be the smartest thing to do when your roommate was already one lab accident past becoming a super villain, but when did she ever make the smart decision over the fun one.

She pulled out her shortest jean shorts, most revealing camisole (a dark purple), and a bright pink bra that would peak out nicely over the top of her camisole. If he was going to complain that her clothes were too revealing, she was going to give him something real to complain about. A tiny portion of her brain that she was resolutely ignoring kept wondering if she really did just want to tease Sheldon.

She threw them on real quickly, adjusted her top to be even more revealing than normal, and stepped back out into the living room, where Sheldon had resumed his spot on the couch. His reaction was immediate; he let out a high-pitched "Eep", before covering his eyes with his hands and refusing to look at her.

"What's the matter Sheldon?" she teased, as she ambled over to him, and plopped down in her spot as close to him as she could, making sure to brush up against him. "Don't approve of my clothes?"

He attempted shrink into the corner of the couch, but slid his fingers apart so that he could look at her through the slits in his fingers. Penny leaned forward as much as she could, to give him a full view. He instantly closed his fingers again.

"Please. Go change," he whispered pleadingly.

She sighed, and leaned back and adjusted her top slightly to make him less uncomfortable. This wasn't going quite as she had expected. "Come on, Sheldon, look at me," she coaxed. He finally cracked open his fingers the tiniest bit, and she could just see slivers of his deep blue eyes.

She shook her head, and lightly chuckled. "You're a psychopathic murderer, and you freak out over a little boob?"

Sheldon almost imperceptibly shook his head, before whispering so quietly she almost missed it, "Just you."

Her mind momentarily froze. After a moment, she mentally cleared her head, processing what he'd just said, and putting two and two together.

"You're okay with other women dressing like this?" she asked softly.

A tiny nod of his head.

"Because you don't have any reaction to them."

Another tiny nod of his head.

"And you're embarrassed because you do have a reaction to me and you don't want me to know about it, so you attempted to get me stop wearing revealing clothes so you'd stop reacting."

A third, almost completely imperceptible, nod. He looked completely mortified.

"It's okay, sweetie," she said soothingly. She wanted to rub his arm, console him, but she knew that would only make things worse. "That's completely normal. The fact you don't react to anyone else is the only weird part."

"No! It's not okay!" he screeched in a shrill whisper. "I can't be attracted to someone, and certainly no one can be attracted to me! I've spent my entire life making myself impermeable to human interactions. This can't be happening! And certainly not with my own roommate!"

He tried to jump up and flee to his room, and Penny reacted without thinking. As he tried to push himself up off the couch, she flung her arms around his chest, and tackled him back onto the couch, landing on top of him, her breasts pressed against his chest. He tried struggling momentarily, but years of junior rodeo had taught Penny how to keep a struggling animal from escaping. He finally stopped struggling and just froze underneath her, a look of complete terror in his eyes.

If Penny wasn't so worried about having broken him (well, more than he already was, if that was possible), she would have laughed at the irony; a psychopathic murderer, who regularly killed the worst people out there, was terrified of a 5'6" blonde lying on top of him.

She slowly released him, and propped herself up above him so that she wasn't pressing into him anymore, but so that she could pin him down again if he tried to escape.

She had no clue what she was doing. She took a deep breath. She still had no clue what she was doing.

What had started out as merely a way to tease him had completely snowballed.

She began slowly, trying to get a full grasp on the situation. "You don't think it's okay for you to be attracted to someone, or for someone to be attracted to you, because of what you do?"

Tiny nod.

"But you are attracted to me despite all your attempts not to be."

Tiny nod.

Penny thought for a second.

"Are you more afraid that I'm not attracted to you and won't return your feelings, or that I am attracted to you?"

She thought she knew the answer, but wanted to make sure, since the conversation would go two different directions depending on his answer.

"That you are. The first would make things easy," Sheldon whispered.

Penny had to think long and hard before she let herself say what was next on her mind.

When she had broken up with Kurt after four years, she had sworn off of relationships. She knew she might one day find someone, but she expected that that would be years down the road. So she'd never even considered her roommate, even before she discovered what he did.

She wasn't sure what she felt towards this crazy man, if she even felt anything at all. But the tiny part of her brain she'd been resolutely ignoring since she started this had rounded up a megaphone and was trying to scream that she obviously felt something, or she wouldn't have done anything that had happened over the last few minutes.

She finally made up her mind. She knew this was either going to break him forever, or make him ever so slightly more human. It was a fifty-fifty chance at the moment. But even if it wasn't her, he needed to understand that he could still be loved, even with who he was.

"And if I am attracted to you, you will refuse to go out with me because of what you do."

Tiny nod.

Very slowly and deliberately, she leaned down towards him, keeping her body off of him as much as possible. He tried to shrink down into the cushions, but didn't bolt; though that was most likely because he was still frozen in shock. As gently as possible, she brushed her lips against his for just a moment, before pulling back a few inches.

His eyes were still terrified and he was still rigid with shock, but he didn't look as if he wanted to bolt quite as much as before. She dipped back down, and kissed him a little firmer, and held it for a little longer before she pulled back up.

"Promise not to bolt if I give you a little space?" she asked.

When he barely nodded his head, Penny sat up on her knees, giving him space; though she still straddled his stomach, essentially preventing him from bolting even if he wanted to. Looking down at him, she said softly, "Despite what you do, you can still be loved. I can't condone what you do. It's certainly illegal, and I'm about 99% sure it's morally wrong, too. But it does make the world a slightly better place. It would be better if you could just use your massive IQ to prove to the police what these people are doing, but I know you can't help it.

"But despite knowing all that, I'm still here. And I'm not going anywhere. You need a roommate who will protect your secret. And I think you would also do well to have a girlfriend who will protect your secret.

"I don't understand myself why I'm offering to do this, why I want to do this, and it's certainly not because I'm trying to change you at all, because I'm not, but this feels right for some reason. So I'm going to ask, and I won't accept 'no' for an answer; Will you go out on a date with me?"

After a long pause, during which he just stared at her, his head finally made the faintest of a nod.

"Good. I'm going to go change into something more appropriate, and then we'll go out mini-golfing like we'd been planning."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Part Four of the Psycho Sheldon Trilogy

"Penny, do you honestly believe you could ever actually consider marrying me? Knowing what I do, who I am."

Penny looked up from her cereal. It was the morning after their discussion, and they hadn't talked about it at all since then. They had gone to play mini-golf, and ended up catching the latest Marvel movie afterwards, but the topic of relationships had not been breeched, and they hadn't discussed a day to go out on their date.

The question caught her off guard, and it took her a few seconds to respond. She didn't want to lie to him, but she also wanted to be encouraging.

"Honestly, sweetie, I don't know. I've accepted that my roommate kills bad guys, but whether or not I could marry you, I don't know yet. But that's not going to keep me from dating you, and finding out."

Sheldon, who was still staring at his oatmeal while he absently stirred it around, just nodded slightly.

"If it makes you feel any better, I really enjoyed yesterday," added Penny, hoping to cheer him up at least a little bit.

* * *

Tuesday night was turning out to be a drag. There weren't a ton of customers, and the ones she did have were mostly obnoxious, inappropriate, and didn't tip worth a darn. Penny had just finished her break when the hostess hurried up to her.

"This guy is insistent on being seated in your section. What do you want me to do?"

Penny glanced over at the entrance, and saw Sheldon standing there.

"Oh, he's fine," she replied. "You can seat him in my section."

The hostess hurried back to where Sheldon was standing, leaving Penny to wonder what her roommate/boyfriend was doing there. He'd never come to eat there before; in fact, as far as she knew, he never ate out anywhere.

"Hey Sweetie, what brings you here?" Penny asked as she walked up to his table.

"If I am to have to accompany you on a date," he replied stiffly, "I thought it prudent to accustom myself to eating at restaurants I am not used to."

"Awe, that's nice of you! Well, do you know what you want?"

Midway through his meal of a barbecue bacon cheeseburger, barbecue, bacon and cheese on the side, three beefy guys were sat at the table in front of Sheldon. Distrusting them immediately, Sheldon kept a wary eye on them as he finished his meal. When Penny came up to take their order, all three of them made attempts to grope her, along with making inappropriate comments to her.

Sheldon had long since finished his meal, but he continued to sit there and watch them, growing more irritated by the minute. After about the fifth time one of them tried to grab Penny's butt, he stood up and walked over to the table, and planted himself in front of them.

"Your inappropriate attempted physical contact with your waitress is unacceptable, as is your speech. Kindly refrain from doing so anymore."

"Oh, and who exactly do you think you are, huh?" said the tallest of the three. "The inappropriate touching police?"

All three of the guys burst out laughing with great guffaws. Sheldon continued to stare at them impassively.

"Someone you don't want to mess with. So leave my girlfriend alone, or you will regret it."

"Are you threatening us, you skinny little twig?" replied the biggest of the three, standing up to face Sheldon. He had two inches and at least 100 pounds on Sheldon, but Sheldon stood his ground.

"You were warned," he replied, before spinning on his heels and returning to his seat, and giving them a death glare until they left. The three guys refrained from attempting to touch Penny for the remainder of their meal, though they continued making inappropriate comments whenever they had the chance.

After they left, Sheldon payed for his meal, and left as well. As Penny cleaned up his table and looked at his bill, she was surprised to see how much of a tip her roommate had left her. For someone who already payed well over half of the rent on their apartment, along with all the utilities and most of the food, he tipped her really well.

* * *

When Penny returned to the apartment that evening, she collapsed onto the couch, and watched Sheldon mull over his whiteboards for a while. It had been a long day, and her feet were too tired to move her any further.

Just as she had worked up the energy to head to the kitchen to try to find something to eat, a plate appeared on the coffee table in front of her. A second later, the lanky physicist sat down in his seat next to her, handing her one of the two tea mugs he was holding.

Looking over at him, she gave him a weary smile and a tired "thanks" before digging in. After she was about halfway through, and no longer starving, she looked back over at him. He was absorbed in some science magazine of his, and if he noticed her, he didn't show it.

Clearing her throat slightly, Penny said, "Sheldon, I appreciate you for standing up for me at the restaurant tonight, but you really didn't have to. I'm used to it. It's just part of the job."

He turned and looked at her. "Just because you are used to it, doesn't make it right."

"I know, sweetie," she replied, patting him lightly on the arm, "but just don't go kill them because they tried to grab me, okay."

"Penny, I don't just randomly murder people because I dislike them, or they do something wrong," he said sternly. "They have to really deserve it, and not have already served a sufficient punishment for their crime. Anyways, I strictly deal with rapists. Assault is not my area."

At this, he stood up and returned to his whiteboards, leaving Penny with her own thoughts.

_So he's not the only one around who deals with bad guys that fall through the cracks._

* * *

Thursday evening, Sheldon and Penny left the restaurant where they had just finished their first date. Penny had found a cute little Italian restaurant within walking distance, and after much grumbling, Sheldon had finally agreed.

Walking out of the restaurant, they began the pleasant stroll back to the apartment. As they passed a dark alleyway, they suddenly found themselves being grabbed by strong arms and pulled into the alley. Penny and Sheldon were pulled apart, and strong hands covered their mouths to keep them from making any noise. They were dragged deep into the alley, and into a cross-alley completely hidden from the road, behind the buildings, where there was some light.

Now that they could see, Penny and Sheldon saw who their attackers were; the trio from the Cheesecake Factory two nights before. The tall one held Sheldon, while the shorter one held Penny, and the biggest one stood in between them.

"So," the big one began. "Thought you were all threatening at the restaurant, didn't you, you little twig? Not so big now, are you? You see, I happen to have a taken a liking to your little girlfriend here, and you interrupted me from getting a fair shot at her. So now I'm going to have to take her the hard way; for you, that is. See now, instead of me just charming this pretty little thing into my bed, and then giving her back to you, I'm going to make you watch as I have my way with your precious little girlfriend here, and then leave both of you beaten up back here. If you survive, and still want her, then she's all yours," he finished with an evil chuckle.

Turning his back on Sheldon, he walked over to where Penny was being held. Just as he went to grab Penny's skirt, he heard a sharp cry from behind him. But before he could turn around, he felt a knife being pressed to his throat.

"Don't move, or I'll slit your throat right here and now," he heard growled into his ear. "Thankfully you picked a very secluded location, making my job that much easier," Sheldon continued, before spinning the behemoth around and landing one on the guy's jaw that sent him sprawling to the dirty pavement. With a lightning quick move, Sheldon had the shortest of the three lying on the ground the same as the other two.

As Sheldon reached out to make sure Penny was okay, Penny looked down at the three assailants. The tall one sat gripping his leg, but she could see a trickle of blood start to ooze out from under his fingers where Sheldon had stabbed him. The one who had been about to rape her looked dazed from where his skull had collided with the pavement. The short one looked the best out of the three, not having put up any struggle when Sheldon threw him to the ground.

"Are you okay?" asked Sheldon.

"Yeah, thanks to you," she replied in a slightly shaken voice. "A few bruises, I'm sure, but nothing that won't heal."

"Good. Now I believe what we discussed Tuesday night no longer applies, but I'd rather not do it here. Too many uncontrollable variables."

Sheldon held out a clean knife to Penny, which she took with slightly shaking hands. Sheathing his own knife momentarily, he quickly made a makeshift tourniquet to slow the bleeding from where he had stabbed the tallest one. After this, he tied one hand each of the tallest and shortest to the hands of the biggest guy, and made them stand up.

Pulling back out his own knife, Sheldon showed Penny how to keep her knife pressed into the back of the shortest guy without it being visible. He then did the same with the tallest guy on the opposite side, and they marched the three men forwards and out of the alleyway.

Ten minutes later, they led the three assailants up the stairs of their apartment building and into 4A. Sheldon took the biggest and tallest and sat them on the floor against the wall, while moving the shortest to the center of the room. After Sheldon and Penny moved all of the furniture out of the way, Penny plopped down on the couch in her spot to watch.

After Sheldon had dispatched the first two assailants, he walked over to the one remaining, the leader of the group, the one who had tried to rape Penny, the one he'd forced to watch his two comrades being slain.

"Save me!" the last remaining assailant cried out to Penny as soon as Sheldon removed his gag. "This guy's a complete lunatic!"

"After what you tried to do to me?" smirked Penny. "Oh, I think not. Anyway, I have to live with the guy. And trust me, I do not want to have to worry about whether he's going to kill me in the middle of the night."

Once Sheldon had finished, Penny stood up. "I assume you don't need any help cleaning up, so I'm off to bed."

"Goodnight, Penny. See you in the morning."

* * *

The following morning, Penny walked into the kitchen in hopes that she was early enough that Sheldon would make enough breakfast for her as well. It was French Toast day, and he made the best French Toast she'd ever eaten. Glancing towards the living room, she saw it was as clean as ever. Turning her attention back towards her tall roommate, she was surprised to find a plate being held out to her.

"Thank you, sweetie," she said, before leaning up and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. She knew he probably didn't approve, something or other about germs, but the ending of their first date hadn't exactly been the most romantic, so she was making up for it now.

Sheldon soon joined her on the couch, and they ate in comfortable silence. When she finished, she turned slightly so that she could look up at Sheldon.

"You know how you asked me if I could ever marry you, and I said I didn't know?"

Sheldon looked over at her slowly and nodded, looking slightly nervous. Penny smiled at him.

"I've changed my mind. After last night, the answer is definitely yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I think this is the end, although I said that after the first chapter, and this is the fourth chapter. But I don't currently have any plans to continue it.


End file.
